Month: May 2025

–Paid State farm BMW 6-month insurance: $746.87.

–Took Grace shopping at the Folsom Safeway, where they have (among other things) frozen chicken patties and sock-it-to-me pudding rings.

–Barbecue for dinner. All good: Safeway corn, chicken patties, sliced red potatoes with rosemary butter. Yow!

–Took a 12.3 mile bike ride on the ARP. Great weather, but lots of folks on the trail. I noticed that Da Brim looks completely different than when I fastened it to the helmet–Grace’s Brim sits much higher. What a dork I am.

–Took the nearly-empty SCUBA tank to Fisheye SCUBA in Granite Bay. Since it’s over five years old, it needs a hydro. $52 and two to three weeks.

–Picked up the NTO Ternion spinner at UPS. Though fairly small and light, it’s a pretty addictive spinner, and dead silent.

–Big day at UPS: (a) Nils Kohring spinner buttons–gorgeous. (b) Pose Blades Cocoon in stainless, NEW from eBay. (c) Yet another bronze Yeti. (d) A couple of NJT buttons. The crystallized titanium is possibly my most beautifull button. (e) A Westclox Moonbeam alarm clock, that, in keeping with recent luck, is virtually NOS. Unmarked, silent, accurate alarm. Yow!

–Spent some time with Grace over at Kenny’s, wishing him well as he headed off to his brother-in-law’s funeral.

–Picked up my Osprey Pulsar pack from Ark Cleaners. Smells about the same as it did when I dropped it off. Crap!

–Another day I forgot to do a journal entry.

–Played around with websites a lot.

–Spent a long time trying to tidy up my four websites so as to address the concerns raised in the Google Search Console. I think I mostly succeeded, though it (apparently) required three additional plugins: canonical URLs, permalinks, and redirection. A lot of it may have been unnecessary, being the result of changes and screw-ups done long ago that linger in Google’s memory. Hope to know in a month or three.

–Picked up the new Da Brim at UPS. Tried to install it, seemed impossible. Grace took a quick look at it and realized that ALL of the tightening of Da Brim to helmet happens via the strap on the side, and not the ones in front and back that I’ve so strenuously tried for years to force through holes in the helmet. What a doofus.

–Grace made breakfast muffins, so Red Baron for dinner.

–Bought a couple more spinners.

–Went through the slides from Grace’s closet, pulled out a bunch that I’ll scan and digitize.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air. Got lots of coupon stuff.

–Polished some spinner buttons with my new polishing rods. The rods work well. I have much to learn wrt buffing wheels and rouge.

–A couple of nice spinner buttons came in–steel and ti, simple, but nicely dished and polished.

–Pose Fat Cocoon came in. I think I prefer the standard, but Had to get this. Also a Modusworks brass tri–for $138. Heavy, tiny bit off balance, but good spinner.

–Turkey burgers etc. for dinner.

–Put gas in the Honda; bought cream cheese and coffee (beans) at Bel Air.

–Went for a 10.77 mile bike ride. At some point, Da Brim blew off my helmet and I didn’t even realize it until later. Looked for it on the way back, didn’t see it. I don’t know how that came off without me being aware–abrupt change of brightness, wind resistance, etc. Ordered a new one.

–Gave up on the Osprey, took it to Ark Cleaners. She said they could get the smell out.

–Got coffee (Punk Bunny) and cream cheese at Bel Air.

–Made a couple more polishing rods from copper: 4mm and 4-40, added to the 3mm I diid a few days ago. They’re not beautiful, but they work quite well.

–Fixed one of Grace’s treasured ball-point pens from her lab at Stanford. The refill was not 100% correct and was binding in the barrel. Belt grinder took care of that.

–Rolex 16618 came in. Total beauty.

–Picked up dinner from Jack’s Urban Eats.

–Rode with Tom Elken in El Dorado Hills, including a short stretch of the original Lincoln Highway–the first road to cross the U.S. Completely wiped me out, mostly because of struggles getting (and keeping) the bike on the rack.

–Chelsea superconductor spinner came in. Nice.

–Took Grace shopping at Smart & Final. For the first time, we actually got discounts for having joined their program. Can’t believe we waited this long: I’ve been part of Raley’s/Bel Air program for many years.

–Went to refill the bird bath, water got cloudy. Turns out the grout was dissolving. I scraped it all off and put it back out with water in it. On reading the grout directions, it says “Wait 24 hours before using.” Reading a little further, it says “For shower floors, wait 7 days.” Oh. Don’t know what I’ll do now. I’d probably have to buy more silicone and break up more tiles–too much much trouble cleaning these off–and the animals would be without water for a week. Crap.

–After many soakings in various liquids, the Osprey pack is starting to smell neutral. I’m giving it one more long soak in “cleaning vinegar,” then (if still smelly) off to a cleaner. Grace suggested this; I should have thought of it long ago.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Went to a metal shop on Pyrites, got a 3/8″ copper rod. They thought it was steel at first, then charged me for brass. A metal shop. I broke a drill bit in the rod on my first attempt, but managed to thread another successfully on the second.

–Soaked the Osprey backpack in a stronger vinegar solution. It’s drying now, and this seventh attempt may have done the trick (ozone generator in the Beemer trunk didn’t do much).

–Picked up a nice Simpsons vintage Chubby 2, which I can actually imagine has a rose tint to it.

–Picked up Dr. Bronner’s Hemp Rose and Hemp Citrus scents (adding to the Peppermint that came in a couple days ago). His scents are interesting, more subtle on the hands than in the bottle.

–Got the Specialized down from the wall and pumped up the tires for a possible ride tomorrow. I’ve tried three of my rebuilt Silca pumps recently, and–surprisingly to me–only one works well. Risky business, rebuilding these things.

–The near-NOS Olympia Maximatic/Coffex continues to make no-fuss good espresso. Another wedding gift abandoned, I imagine.

–Osprey pack is better after a couple dips in Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap, but not odorless yet.

–Finished up the bird bath and set it up out front. Birds seem to like it.

–Spent a while organizing/cataloging stuff. Made some progress.

–Watered the plants in back. They’re mostly growing like crazy, for reasons that aren’t clear to me.

–Took a shower and shave. For the 3rd or 4th time felt a pinprick pain near my left ear in roughly the same spot that presaged parotid cancer on the right years ago. I do not need another bout of that.

–Soaked the new Osprey pack in a bucket of water with a little Dr. Bronner’s peppermint soap added. Apparently not enough peppermint; still seems to smell of aftershave.

–Grouted Kenny’s broken up tiles into the new bird bath base.

–Got the new Olympia Maximatic running. Turns out it’s another near-NOS machine. I didn’t have to do anything except add water and turn it on. Made a fine latte.

–Picked up a titanium Yeti at UPS. Fine, a little boring.

–Stopped at Bel Air for turkey burger patties, corn and milk. Barbecue for dinner—good stuff.

–Had it out with Kirill Yuzh after returning the Rolex 16618. No more Lunar Oyster, no more Tropical Watch. Bought what appears to be a super nice tritium 16618 on eBay. We’ll see, after the authenticator sees.

–Couple of nice spinners came in–Vader zircuti and Horizon Mega tri superconductor.

–Olympia Coffex came in. Best-boxed item I’ve ever received. Seems perfectly intact and in great shae. Haven’t turned it on yet.

–Broke some more of Kenny’s green tiles and glued them into a new terracotta base. Will grout tomorrow and replace the broken birdbath–which birds have been loving lately.

–Red Baron for dinner.

–Biked to UPS to pick up WCu Chelsea spinner. Nice, but too heavy.

–Rolex 16618 (Gold Submariner) came in from Tropical Watch. Beautiful dial, case okay, ran okay. Crown logo on bracelet clasp had been polished down to almost nothing–worst I’ve seen. Told Kirill Yuzh to return. He will, but says no more deals–Tropical Watch won’t sell me any more watches. This would be kind of humorous if it weren’t so enraging. These guys both exemplify all that’s rotten with salespeople.

–Went to New York Bagels. They fixed their oven last night and so had a dozen sesame bagels ready for me.

–Stopped at S*T Strawberries for a triple.

–Stopped at UPS for an abundance of flippers. Good stuff.

–No ride today–too cool.

–Picked up a seatpost clamp at UPS. Very nice, though requires a tool to use–there’s no fat part on the end of the bolt that you can turn with your fingers to get the right tension before closing the clamp. Also got the Oral B “double” toothbrush. It’s a fine piece of work, and both halves of the bristles move, but it’s really too big for my mouth. Will continue to use it with standard brush heads, as it seems a little more aggressive than my current one.

–Started falling asleep in the living room around 4; took a 1.5 hour nap.

–Sold some more Bitcoin and sent it to the bank. I think I’m finally ahead on this game.

–Paid State Farm $386.82 for Honda.

–Marie chicken pot pie for dinner.

–Cool and a little rain today–weirdest April-May ever.

–Went to Home Depot to pick up another birdbath bottom: a squirrel jumped off the frogs, knocking them against the birdbath and breaking it.

–Stopped at Bel Air for coffee and lunch cheese.

–Tried washing the new (old) Osprey pack, which reeks of aftershave or something, in Woolite, then vinegar.  Better, but still needs work.

–Walked to Bel Air for cream cheese and corn.

–Barbecued the corn along with turkey burgers. Good.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Bought many spinners today.

–Picked up the bright blue Osprey pack at UPS. It has the spray-on logo and a distinct smell of aftershave or some such. Set it out to sit in the sun for a while–it is impressively colorful.

–Resurrected the Leica M11 for the 6th time. The main picture I took, f5.6 or f8, it auto-set the ISO at 5000! Very strange metering system on the camera.

–Replaced a gushing emitter in the back garden.

–Fixed my four websites that were ailing from my attempt to prevent WordPress updates.

–Took the Beemer to Hooverville Orchards for jam and pastry. Then to S*T Strawberries for strawberries and (yes, it’s back!) strawberry jam.

–Grip strength meter came in. Was looking a reading > 33, got 100, thought I was Superman. Then read the directions and set it for kilograms instead of pounds: 42. Good stuff, but not Superman.

–Took Grace shopping at Bel Air.

–Thread checker came in. Three sizes so far: 3mm x .5, 4mm x .7, 4-40.

–Put gas in the BMW.

–Went to Target to pick up the Zagitor anti-histamine eye drops Grace ordered. They are miraculous.

–Went to the Sutter lab in Folsom for a major blood draw. Finally got results: with a couple tiny exceptions, everything (including A1C) is in the normal range. Whew!

–Took a 10.4 mile bike ride. For some reason (wind?) I flew out and crawled back. I checked the tires before going; they needed a fair bit of air. The new Nitto seatpost performed flawlessly.

–Hot and super windy; my allergies are terrible.

–Watered plants, which are looking good.

–Went to UPS for (a) Vader zircuti; easily the best zircuti I’ve seen. I recall this was one of the first spinners I put on a want list early on. (b) Pose Cocoon, medium, ti skelly MF.

–Stopped at Bel Air for pork chops, corn, and antipasto salad. Barbecue was good.

–Got the drill press out and fabricated a spinner button polishing tool from a 3/8″ aluminum rod and a 3mm x 14mm grub screw. Worked great. Now I need to find out what sizes all my other button screws are and order some more grub screws.

–Took a shower and shave.

–Went to Home Depot looking for a brass rod to turn into several spinner button polishing tools. Zip. Bought an aluminum rod, will try it.

–Took Grace shopping at Costco for various stuff.

–Stopped at UPS for Modusworks Spinamathing in brass, and Pose Cocoon in superconductor with an NJT SC button. Both nice.

–Went to UPS to pick up spinner buttons with abalone inlays (too heavy: tungsten); o-rings for Omega bracelet (got the right size the second time around); vintage NOS Braun/Oral B toothbrush, made in Germany. Hefty. Didn’t last long on a quick charge, so I try to follow directions and leave it charging for 16 hours.

–Went to Bel Air for dessert, corn, potato salad. Barbecued turkey burgers. Good as usual.

–Hot day. Didn’t do a lot.

–Got bagels.

–Tried another LIC EDC drop. Nope.

–Warm day. Went for a ride on the ARP, found it blocked for maintenance about 2 miles west.

–Hoping to stop bike creaks, I took the bike seat off the post, put anti-seize on most parts, put it back together (non-trivial). We’ll see.

–Dr. Firoz says there are orders in for fasting lab work, then we’ll meet to discuss. Getting really tired of medical obligations.